My 2nd year of collecting baseball cards, and the last card set before expansion to 24 teams and divisional play. I have completed the whole set. (Series 1-5, and 7 during 1968. In my neighborhood, the 6th series was unavailable. I completed this in the 1980s.) -- 28-SEP-2009

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Bubba Morton (#216)

The 2nd Bubba for today is Wycliffe "Bubba" Morton, outfielder for the California Angels in the late 1960s.

Morton was signed by the Tigers back in 1955, and spent 6 seasons in the minors before breaking in with the Tigers in April 1961. Bubba spent all of 1961 and 1962 as a spare outfielder, behind starters Al Kaline, Rocky Colavito, and Bill Bruton.

In May 1963, he was purchased by the Milwaukee Braves, but played only 15 games for them before spending most of '63, and all of 1964 in the minors. His minor-league adventures continued in 1965, but this time as a member of the Indians' organization.

Morton was traded to the Angels at the end of the 1965 season, and after spending most of '66 in triple-A, he returned to the majors and played his final 3 seasons with California. He played about 80 games in each of those 3 seasons, but the Angels' roster was packed with outfielders in those days. The 1967 Topps set features EIGHT outfielders on the team. The Angels' 1968 and 1969 rosters also featured 8 outfielders with significant major-league experience. If your name wasn't Rick Reichardt, you pretty much scrambled for playing time.

Set description I posted in Zistle

The 1968 Topps set included 598 cards, 11 fewer than the previous year. As in 1967, the cards had vertical backs. Topps returned to the teams’ color scheme that was used in the 1966 set (and would also be used in 1969). Cards in the high-numbered 7th series are more difficult to find, due to limited distribution that late in the season.

Among the cards are 20 manager cards, 12 league leader cards, and 8 World Series cards. Inexplicably, there are only team cards for 13 of the 20 teams. The set includes just 30 rookie stars cards (down from 43 the previous year), and there is no Giants Rookie Stars card, which is odd considering that Bobby Bonds would have been a candidate for that card. Multi-player cards decreased from 13 in 1967 to just 3 in the 1968 set. Two of them feature stars from multiple teams. All-star cards (20) returned to the set in 1968, after being absent for several years.

The 1968 set includes the final cards for 48 players and 2 managers, including long-time veterans Eddie Mathews and Roger Maris (who both wrapped up their careers in the 1968 World Series), Rocky Colavito, Elston Howard, Bill Henry, Larry Jackson, Al Worthington, Norm Siebern, Larry Sherry, Jim Bouton, and Floyd Robinson.

Notable rookie cards in the set are Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman (on the same card) and Johnny Bench. Other rookie cards in the set (all “solo” cards) include Gary Nolan, Don Wilson, Manny Sanguillen, Mike Marshall, and Danny Frisella.

1968 rookies with significant playing time who were omitted from the set include Reggie Jackson, Bobby Bonds, Del Unser, Bobby Cox, Hector Torres, Tom Burgmeier, Marty Pattin, and Sparky Lyle.

Other quirks in the 1968 set: - For some (contractual?) reason, all the Astros cards show the team name as “Houston”, and all Astros logos are airbrushed out of the photos. - Since the Athletics moved to Oakland in the off-season, all photos are airbrushed. - As mentioned above, 7 teams did not have a team card, and there was no Giants Rookie Stars card. - The design of the “burlap” borders was changed after the first series. - The "Topps All-Rookie Team" trophy is missing from the cards for Rick Monday, Rich Nye, and Dick Hughes.